music – One Stitch at Time

This a video on YouTube clip from the Altamira Project by Boris Lebong.

Here is an excerpt from the website : ALTAMIRA – LISTING TO THE WORLD

http://www.altamiraworld.net/

“Altamira is a sociocultural project I founded in 1998. I have been involved full time with it since then.

With music as a guideline, ALTAMIRA explores through action and reflection the role of cultural issues in the processes of human development.

We think cultural resources vaporization is a mainspring of social empowerment. Our projects thus lean on the link between the art of music and the weakening art of living together.

With Altamira, we explore the link between culture and society, and how it can be a mainspring of social empowerment. Practically, we make community-based records, we set up pluridisciplinary shows as well as cultural interactions of all sorts : open mics, conferences, screenings, etc…

Music is the guideline of these projects, but they are first of all human projects based on sharing and creating together”

I found the website, the text, the whole approach and the aims and the video work very inspiring.

P.S. I will try to figure out how to upload the video to the blog!

till then, this is the YouTube link:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=boris+lelong+embroidery&oq=boris&gs_l=youtube

The Joy of Stitch

Thought about Music and Stitch

May 29, 2013June 19, 2013 Christiane Berghoff

Music and Stitch

Music is a very important aspect in my life; I enjoy music in many forms and variations. No matter if it is recorded music (CD’s, online etc) or life music, concerts, gigs, making music with friends. I enjoy listing to music while I work with my hands , at home or when I am out to concerts or local music events. I am known for taking knitting/stitching along with me, where I go.

The initial idea to link music with my Stitching Project, came through a visit to the local St. Mary’s church. The atmosphere, up on the balcony by the window, was the first place where I filmed or rather was filmed while stitching. A Nigel Wicken, a friend of mine, is the organist of this church and we experimented with music and did some recording.

Stitching at the Church

In this situation the music was a beautiful piece by Arvo Paert “mirror in the mirror”.

A very beautiful, serene atmosphere was created. Something was missing. There was a distant between the setting by the window and the musician at the organ. A beginning, but not qiute the dialogue I was looking for.

The next collaboration happened with Bill Goodyear in his flat. Bill improvised on his guitar while being aware of my presence, I was listing to him, while stitching. In the film and photography the dialogue is not visible.

At Bill’s flat

We both enjoyed the experience and the next step was to go outside to Mousehole Beach.

Mousehole Beach

But the music was still not “visible”.

Only when I went out with Jamie and suddenly had the idea of us sitting together the quite dialogues became visible.

Jamie Mills and me in the Field

After this evening it became clear to me that I wanted to show the dialogue, the collaboration in my documentation.

Bill and I spent some time at Priest Cove, St. Just and sat together, playing and stitching, it felt just like a beginning. Bill said afterwards, he felt like weaving in and out from being ‘lost’ in his music and the awareness of my presence. In a subtle way he follow my movement.

Another meeting was with Ruth Bolton and her three daughters, Jessie, Iris and Amy. The youngest one preferred to be behind the camera: it was a wonderful experience how the flute (Jessie), the cello (Iris) and the violin (Ruth) wove together with my Stitching.

Ruth, Jessie and Iris Bolton

After this afternoon, I became to realize that I want to start a further exploration into a dialogue between Music and Stitch.

The next step would be to start a new piece of cloth and response to the music with the Stitches.

The Joy of Stitch

Time and Stitch – Thoughts

March 25, 2013 Christiane Berghoff

Time and Stitch Thoughts

..,, The project ‘Time and Stitch’ is an exploration about how we perceive time when we create something with out hands, on the example of stitch / embroidery.

The purpose of My embroidery in this work is to experience the effect of a very slow and time consuming activity. The objects, the embroidered cloth are a physical documentation of time spend, mostly alone and some times in company.

The videos and photos are the documentation of the journey, of the process.

Why Stitch and Music?

My personal experience come into play; as I enjoy the activity of needlecraft, and knitting and crocheting, I tend to take it with me to most place I know. In Penzance I am known as “the woman who knits”. I love live music; a wide range from my local Folk group, the blues my man played, to orchestral concerts and chamber music and the knitting comes along. While the hands are engaged I listen with greater intend.
This bore the idea to explore the interaction between a musician and a stitcher.
In my experience the dialog is tangible , a gentle much more internal communication .

The Joy of Stitch

Reflection on the converstions with Gillian Wylde and Bill Goodyear

February 11, 2013 Christiane Berghoff

Talk with Bill, Thursday, 17.01.2013

I talked with Bill about the tutorial with Gillian yesterday; the base line is to move on and take the activity “Stitching” on a journey.

It means leaving the church behind for the time being.

I might want to film in some of the small country churches; the spiritual environment, the quiet and the time factor,

particularly here in the South-West of Cornwall echoes with search of a point- place-moment-sequence meets in the stillness that is interwoven with a place and its sounds.

It means going outside, on beaches, rocks, moors. Gillian suggested going out for a day on a journey, for example Dartmoor, spend time stitching and later on writing about the experience.

Also it became very clear, that the video and stills act as documentation and are not the work itself.

The Work is the activity, the act of being in a place while finding the place inside, through a moving activity, the Stitching.

The Stitching becomes a “real” time documentation, tangible memory of the time spend. Each stitch holds the memory of a moment, a breath.

So much comes together for me in this work;

⇒⇒ my search and longing for beauty (reference Satish Kumar on Beauty),

⇒⇒ my love for the handmade activity, ⇒⇒ my search in using material which are kind to the environment. (Here hemp and British Wool)

⇒⇒ working with music and sound

In talking with Bill it became clearer what I am looking for:

> in the visuals > Images in the landscape, working in the landscape

> in the sound > ambient sound of the filming

> under laying with sound from close up recordings of stitching, needle through the fabric, breathing, moving of cloth.

Also I became aware that I could only think of one “mode” at a time, which is interesting in itself.

Gillian suggests “Contrast” work as in a setting of stitching at Piccadilly Circus.

First I rejected her idea, as something I was not looking for; in the conversation with Bill,

I thought, it would be interesting to explore the idea, with the freedom to abandon it, if it doesn’t feel right.

At the moment I am concentrating on the “Calm” mode.

Working with sound and music is an integral part, as music is such a powerful tool for expression of moods and feeling and plays an important part in my life.

The Joy of Stitch

Sea, Wind Embroidery and Muisc

February 8, 2013February 8, 2013 Christiane Berghoff

A moment of being out in the elements, the wind, the sounds, the feel of the rocks under my body: sitting still, taking it all in, stitching the experience into the fabric in my hands.

Sea, Wind, Embroidery and Music

It was my first outing with my Embroidery into the landscape. it was a new experience to in the wind, to hear the sea crashing and the gulls crying above; stitching in my awareness of place, a place close to my home. The embroidery, the act of stitching is the inner place, space I long for. The Frame and the fabric become the space, to journey into. – filming requires collaboration, a dialoge with the person behind the camera (Thank you so much Bill!!) , it requires communication, taking out of my head my vision of what I am looking for. I enter a process with the person I am working with, there is a give and take, a exchange of ideas. – Music – the music is guitare improvisation by Bill Goodyear (thank you again for your time and input). It was recorded late in his flat during another filming session. Bill’s music becomes a audio anchor for my mind, my hands are moving and I am listing, entering a place of calm.